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College Park, MD, October 21, 2011—AAPT has announced that Elizabeth Chesick will receive the association’s Distinguished Service Citation during the 2012 Winter Meeting in Ontario, California.

Chesick earned her B.A. in physics at Wellesley College and her M.S. in physics at Tufts University, specializing in high energy and particle physics, before taking a position as Physics and Geometry Teacher at Day Prospect Hill School in New Haven, CT. In 1963 she moved to The Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr where she taught Physics and Physical Science and ended her professional career as Chair of the Science Department. During this time Chesick spent nine years teaching physic in the ninth grade with great success. Her expertise as a teacher has been recognized with the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Math Teaching for Pennsylvania (1988) and the Rosamond Cross Chair for Excellence in Teaching (The Baldwin School, 1997).

A member of AAPT since 1959, Chesick has served as Section Representative, Vice President, and President of Southeastern Pennsylvania Section of AAPT. She served as Chair of the AAPT Committee on Professional Concerns, the Committee on International Education and as a member of Nominating Committee, Programs Committee, Membership and Benefits Committee, Finance Committee, and Awards Committee. She has also served on the Area Committee on Minorities in Physics, Committee on the Interests of Senior Physicists, and the Committee on Physics in Pre-College Education. She co-authored "The Role, Education, Qualifications, and Professional Development of Secondary School Physics Teachers," an AAPT publication.

She represented AAPT as an official delegate to the 1986 International Conference on Physics Education in Tokyo and to the US/Japan/China Conferences on Physics Education in 1989, 1991, and 1993.

Chezick has served as a Physics Teacher Resource Agent (PTRA) at the inception of the program, mentoring and leading her colleagues. In 2008 she was elected as the AAPT At Large High School Representative on the AAPT Executive Board, serving until 2011.

About the Distinguished Service CitationDistinguished Service Citations are presented to AAPT members in recognition of their exceptional contributions to AAPT at the national, sectional or local level.

About AAPTAAPT is an international organization for physics educators, physicists, and industrial scientists—with more than 10,000 members worldwide. Dedicated to enhancing the understanding and appreciation of physics through teaching, AAPT provides awards, publications, and programs that encourage teaching practical application of physics principles, support continuing professional development, and reward excellence in physics education. AAPT was founded in 1930 and is headquartered in the American Center for Physics in College Park, Maryland.